Elias Strong: 5-year-old Medford boy with rare cancer remembered and honored by police, fire departments

Elias Yang, a 5-year-old boy from Medford with a rare form of terminal cancer, passed away from the illness on May 2nd.

He was diagnosed with the cancer in his liver seven months ago. After surgery and chemo, doctors thought he was clear, but a month later, it returned.

“He started sleeping a lot more and when he was awake, he was complaining of a lot of pain in his abdomen area,” said Valerie Root, Elias’ mom.

Not only was Elias’ family going through this during a global pandemic, but his condition also went downhill fast.

In a matter of days, he was back in the hospital. The cancer had metastasized throughout his body.

For the majority of the pandemic, the family was living living on the sixth floor of Boston Children’s Hospital as doctors worked to stabilize Elias, which meant he couldn’t have any visitors.

So, police officers and firefighters all across greater Boston began sending photos supporting Elias after they were notified about the cause by the American Legion riders our of Cambridge known as the Dirty Water Crew. Then came photos from Frontier Airlines and those came from all over the world.

After learning of Elias’ passing, many police and fire departments came together to continue supporting the Elias Strong campaign.

On Saturday, many local departments will take part in an escort to help transport Elias from Boston Children’s Hospital to a funeral home in Arlington.

In his five short years, Elias touched so many lives.

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